Editorial: Obama fumbles, but will he be able to recover?

Continued missteps, errors and flops have made the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) nothing short of a disaster. And, unfortunately, President Obama's news conference on the topic Thursday only served to add a dash more confusion and doubt to a pot that's been simmering since HealthCare.gov opened to the public in October and immediately started crashing ... and crashing ... and crashing.

Disappointing is one way to describe it. Lack of leadership might be a more accurate one. The president had an opportunity Thursday to make a better case for his signature piece of legislation; unfortunately, the words he offered were less than inspiring. Indeed, they sounded more like backtracking.

"Americans whose plans have been canceled can choose to re-enroll," he said during the White House news conference in reference to the latest bombshell over Americans receiving notices that their health insurance plans were being canceled because they didn't meet the tougher criteria of health care coverage set by the ACA. This despite his repeated assurances and those of administration officials and many Democratic lawmakers that if you like your health plan, you can keep your plan; or if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Turns out there was some small print in that mantra, after all.

The president said the canceled health plans could be extended through 2014. Of course, that wasn't a mandate; so it is kind of an open-ended solution because it is dependent upon the insurance companies taking the lead (and expenses) involved in offering extensions. Any takers out there?

So far, insurance industry officials don't seem too keen on the notion. Indeed, they warn that what Obama proposes could destabilize the marketplace and possibly lead to higher costs for consumers.

"Premiums have already been set for next year based on an assumption of when consumers will be transitioning to the new marketplace," Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, said in a USA Today report.

This latest twist in the ACA maze of political mines has increased signs of revolt among some Democrats, including former President Clinton, who have joined Republicans in saying anyone who has health coverage and wants to keep it should be allowed to do so. On Friday, 39 Democrats in the House joined a nearly unanimous GOP caucus to approve a Republican measure, 261-157, that gives health insurers the option of extending plans through 2014. The bill has little hope in the Senate, though.

In the other chamber, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is sponsoring legislation that would expand on what Obama offered Thursday by allowing people with existing health care plans that they like to keep them not just through 2014 but beyond that. She says it's important the president and lawmakers keep promises they made in regard to ACA. "I'm encouraged that the president took action to stop the cancellation of insurance policies that people were promised they could retain," Landrieu said Thursday in a news release.

Overall, last week was one of bad news for ACA, especially with Wednesday's report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showing for October fewer than 27,000 people in the 36 states using the federal website had completed the full process to get coverage. In Louisiana, that number was 387. Nationwide, the DHHS reported 106,186 people were able to select plans in the marketplace and 975,407 others made it through the process but have not picked a plan. The data are disappointing for the Obama administration since it had predicted 500,000 would enroll in October.

Thursday's news conference was a missed opportunity for this presidency. There were no words of inspiration, nor hope.

Come on, Mr. President, we need to be going forward, not back. It's time to address the problems with ACA in a proactive rather than reactive manner. Admit to the errors but move on. Fix what's broken. And prepare for the next hurdle because we've no doubt there will be several more in the months ahead as the health care law enters a new active phase after Jan. 1.